Friday

Easel cards are so easy and fun to put together. They really add a different flair to cards and are a great way to really grab your recipient's attention! A great tutorial can be found at Splitcoaststampers under the Resources section - check it out! The one above uses the "Great Friend" stamp set and white embossed vellum butterflies. I love watching embossing powder melt, so this one was extra fun to assemble!

Here's another one made before Easter using the Vintage Vogue stamp set..... love this stamp set to pieces! Oh, don't forget that today, April 30th, is the last day that you can order from the Occasions Mini Catalog - some things have sold out already (ie the On-Board Heart book, Sweet Pea Designer paper stack, Sweet Pea Stitched felt). You can order any other items online at www.june.stampinup.net and be sure to check out the clearance rack section too! Lots of great bargains to be had there.

Sunday

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday. This card is using Apricot Appeal, Sage Shadow, and Basic Gray colors posted as a challenge over at SCS. I love doing them - the challenges do keep the ideas fresh and inspirational..... try 'em, you'll like 'em! Tee hee!!!

This color combination reminded me of "vintage" when I pulled all the sheets of cardstock together. It was a bonus in the challenge to use lace which pretty much sealed the "vintage" idea I had floating around in my head.

The flower spray comes from a large stamp in the upcoming SU! Summer Mini stamp set called "Elements of Style". It was stamped in Basic Black ink on Vanilla cardstock and colored direct-to-paper with Apricot Appeal, More Mustard and Sage Shadow markers. I ever-so-lightly blended the colors together with a slightly damp aquapainter. I cut the flower spray with an oval Coluzzle, stopping in areas of the image that I wanted "out-of-the-box", and trimmed those areas with small scissors. I lightly sponged Apricot Appeal ink around the edges, and this was matted on a Basic Gray cardstock oval. The lace was attached on the back with Sticky Strip.

The sentiment comes from the Great Friend stamp set. I used a StampAMaJig for that step.

The butterfly is a new single stamp called All a Flutter and was stamped in black and colored with the same markers mentioned above and a white gel pen. The butterfly and flowers only were heat embossed with Versamarker/clear EP. The background was made with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder/BigShot and lightly sponged with Apricot Appeal ink to bring out the dots. This main panel and butterfly were adhered with dimensional popdots. I added 3 small half-back pearls to finish it off.

I hope today starts a fabulous week ahead for you. Take care and see you next time!

Saturday

This was made for this week's Technique Lover's challenge on SCS. We were to do paper piercing on our card - I kept the piercing simple and just framed the main panels.

The palm trees come from a soon-to-be-available (May 1st!) Stampin'Up! Summer Mini catalog set called Tropical Party. I used Old Olive and Soft Suede markers for coloring the palm trees. The sun was created from a 1/2 inch circle punched in a post-it to use as a mask for sponging Summer Sun ink. I lightly sponged Bashful Blue and Creamy Caramel inks along the lower half of my main panel. The sentiment comes from Teeny Tiny Wishes and was lined up with a StampAMaJig. The background paper is from the Welcome Neighbor SAB paper pad and is popped up with dimensional popdots. Melon Mambo ribbon and paper piercing finish off the card.

Have a great day, and thank you for visiting with me. Come back again, soon! :)

Friday

Hello again - This card was made for my oldest son to give to his date on their way to their high school's Junior-Senior Prom next weekend.... along with chocolates and a rose corsage, of course! He will be wearing the standard black tuxedo and white shirt with a red vest/tie to match her lovely red dress, so that's why I chose these colors for the card. The layout is this week's Sketch Challenge over on Splitcoast.

The large rose and rose buds on the tags were made with hearts punched from various heart sizes, and I inserted little half-back pearls that are held in place with Crystal Effects. The two smaller roses were made with the Trio Flower punch, with 3 punch-outs stacked on each other and scrunched up with a little pearl inside. The stamped "flower stem" is a portion of the flourish stamp from SU's new Elements of Style (which will be available for purchase on May 1st), and it was selectively colored with Old Olive marker before stamping. I lightly sponged the edges and used the speckle stamp from Itty Bitty Backgrounds in Real Red ink to add alittle more color to the flower panel. I applied a smidge of Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint with a make-up sponge to the large rose/leaves - the leaves were hand cut from scrap DSP.

I used the scallop trim border and tiny tags punch for the ribbon layer. I left the middle tag blank so that my son could write his date's name in Japanese handwriting - my son and his date met in their Japanese language class, so I think that will add a special, personalized touch for this card. The background embossed panel was created with the Finial Press folder/Bigshot.

I hope you have a great weekend and can stop in again very soon! C Ya!!

Thursday

Howdy! This baby card was created using multiple paper patterns to fit the Ways to Use It challenge over on Splitcoaststampers.

The patterned paper comes from selections within SU's Welcome Neighbor SAB paper pad. The On Board chipboard circular ring and heart is from the Blossoms & Basics package. Sadly, these are no longer available, but the chipboard shapes can be found repackaged in the "Essentials" and "Batch of Blooms" selections that are available now. I used Versamark and white embossing powder/heatgun 3 times on the ring to get the thick coverage needed for a smooth surface. I colored the heart with Melon Mambo ink, then applied a thick coat of Mono-Multi glue and sprinkled the Crystal Iris chunky glitter on top.

The elephant from the Pun Fun stamp set was stamped in Basic Black, and watercolored with Going Grey and Pretty in Pink inks before punching it out with a 1 3/4 inch circle punch. The edges of the elephant panel and Hip-hippo-ray label were lightly sponged with Pretty in Pink ink. The Whisper White Organza ribbon bow was tied around the white embossed ring and everything was assembled. The ring was glued down with Mono-Multi, and I used dimensional popdots under the elephant panel and hand-cut wavy label. The heart is adhered with a square of sticky strip, and half-back pearls were added last.

Monday

A recent challenge on Splitcoaststampers, TLC268, was to incorporate a bookmark into a card. I had some small items to give to a sweet friend, so I thought this would be a nice way to add something more to her gifts.

This little color combination started with this paper rose that I originally had made for a different project. The rose turned out to be larger than I needed, so I set it aside till I found another use for it - today's project! The paper rose was created by using different sized heart punches. I sponged ink on the edges and curled the heart's curvy edges under before gluing the pointy tips together (a brad can help to secure all the pointy tips before shaping as well).

The designer paper came from my never-ending scraps pile, so I don't know the maker, but I loved the summery feel to the colors and it matched the flower well enough for my needs. This was matted together using Tempting Turquoise cardstock. The paper gift bag is Stampin' Up's Fancy Favor Sizzix die cut out of YoYo Yellow. I threaded a strip of Whisper White Organza ribbon on top to make a bag strap. The flower is attached to the designer paper with dimensional popdots.

The front of the card seen at the top of this post is using stamps from Great Friend and Pocket Silhouettes stamp sets in YoYo Yellow, Tempting Turquoise and Green Galore inks with the same in cardstock colors. The inside of the tri-fold card contains the bookmark held in place with repositionable tape. Here's the bookmark removed from the card below-

The butterflies were diecut using the Beautiful Wings embosslit die found on page 24 of the Occasions Mini. I love how it has 4 different butterflies on it - I've used it a ton already! The bookmark is a perfect size and comes from the Two Tags die, and I have an inside mat of Tempting Turquoise cardstock punched from the Scallop Circle punch. The 1 3/8 circle punch was used for the pattern paper circle background.

I hope this gives you some ideas to use when presenting gifts to someone special. I hope you have a fabulous Monday, and may your week be a good one! Till next time....

Sunday

I thought I'd share a couple cards that I made for the CC264 Color Challenge that was posted on Splitcoast the beginning of April. This challenge was to use Bermuda Bay, So Saffron and Basic Gray colors.

The cake is from this year's SAB set Happy Moments, and was colored direct-to-paper with the In-Color markers. The glow of candles and cake plate was watercolored with the aquapainter and So Saffron & Going Grey inks. The dry embossed Bermuda Bay background is the Petals-A-Plenty embossing folder that was ran through the BigShot. The sentiment is the Modern Label and Word Window punch. Some brads and organdy ribbon from my stash finish up this card.

I wasn't sure how I'd like these colors when I first read the challenge, but I found that I enjoyed using them together after all - so I made another card!

A closeup of the flowers below -

After punching the flower shapes from the Boho Blossoms flower punch and assembling them together with a brad to hold them in place, I scrunched up the Bermuda Bay flower tips with my fingers. This loosened the paper fibers so that I could use the tip of my paper piercer to tease the paper layers apart to give the flower petals a ruffled look. A different, but fun technique!

I encourage you to do a challenge today - they are a great way to push yourself to try something new. Look, I was "ho-hum" about the colors picked for this challenge, and then pleasantly surprised at how bright and cheerful they were together! Give it a go!!!!

Saturday

So do you ever find yourself needing to put together a quick card? Try blocking as a technique to whip one up in a snap. Simply use leftover pieces of patterned paper to use for your base background, stamp on a strip for the top layer, add alittle embellishment and your done!

Friday

Hello again - yes, it's been a while. Too long, I suppose, but life has a way of throwing curve balls and a person can't hit it out of the ballpark every time! However, it's time to play catch up, so that's what I'll try to do... Today, I thought I'd post about Stampin' Up's recently announced color renovation that will occur with the new 2010-2011 catalog season. Beginning on July 1 with the 2010-2011 Catalog, there will be 4 new color collections. From what I understand, Stampin' Up has been researching this change for a couple of years, so this update was not taken lightly. Really, it was time to revamp! The new collections are vibrant, fresh, and I'm excited to begin using them!

Here are the important deets. There will be a foundation of 40 Core Colors. 25 will be current core colors, 10 returning In Colors and 5 new colors to make up the new collections. The 25 current colors that were chosen to continue are the following:

Stampin' Up will be providing 5 new core colors in our collections. They are the following: Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, and Marina Mist.

In addition to these 40 core colors, Stampin' Up is keeping the introduction of new In Colors every year. However, they have changed the way the In Colors system works - the In Colors will be available now for 2 years! There will be 5 new In Colors introduced in the new 2010-2011 catalog this July, and they won't be retired until June 2012. In addition, there will be another set of five In Colors introduced in the 2011-2012 catalog next July, and they won't be retired until June 2013. This means there will be 10 "new" In Colors at a given time starting July 2011. This rotation will help keep us using the contemporary and popular hot color trends. I'm not sure that I can say the names of the new, upcoming In Colors on the blog just yet - but let me say that they really sound delish!!!

So with this good news, there is alittle bit of sad. The following listing are the colors that will be retired as of June 30, 2010:

There's plenty of time to really think about the retiring colors that you use the most, and stock up on supplies, if that's what you'd like to do. I've been through a couple color reorganizations (as a customer) with SU over the years. After thinking about this long and hard, I found that I often didn't reach for those retired colors when working on projects. So, I'm thrilled to have new colors to play with.... and I hope that you are, too!

Today's card at the top of this post is using a layout from Sketch Challenge 276 posted this week over at Splitcoaststampers. The stamps come from a soon-to-be-available stamp set called Elements of Style. Lots of fun, vintage-style images and sentiments are included with this set. The flowers and leaves were watercolored with markers and aquapainter. They were touched up with a white gel pen for highlights, and alittle bit of Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint was dabbed on with a makeup applicator around the petals. It adds a wonderful shimmer of light-catching bling and I really love, love, love those Shimmer Paints. The background textured paper is from the new Square Lattice embossing folder that will be available from the Summer Mini Catalog on May 1st. The cardstock colors of this card are Rose Red, Close to Cocoa and White. The Old Olive patterned paper came from the SAB Welcome Neighbor paper pad stack. The little half-back pearls were colored with a greenish alcohol marker to match up the card better - though I suspect I didn't have to do that and it would have turned out just fine.

I hope that you have a great day, and I hope you can come back soon. I promise to be back as well.... :)

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First and foremost, I love Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ. I am truly blessed with four wonderful children and have been married to my sweet DH for over twenty-five years.

I love being creative with papercrafting, quilting, altered items and mixed media artwork. Horseback riding, gardening, and reading are other favorite hobbies. We love and share our home with a menagerie of animals.